Abstract
Juan de Alameda (?-1570), Order of Friars Minor, arrived in Mexico in 1528 to join the work of conversion of indigenous peoples that begun in 1523. The Franciscan chroniclers Gerónimo de Mendieta (1525-1604) and Juan de Torquemada (c. 1557-1624) highlighted his role in the foundation of the city of Huejotzingo, where he built the existing convent, the reorganization of various urban centers, such as the locality of Tula, the erection of the church of Huaquechula and the completion of the temple of Atlixco.
It is from this brief information that historians have developed various hypotheses regarding the figure of Juan de Alameda, considering him in various cases even a great architect who held an important position in the construction of the monastic complexes of O.F.M. in Mexico. Despite these multiple hypotheses about his figure, until now there has been no strictly scientific investigation focused on illustrating the true role of the friar in New Spain.
With the aim of clarifying, therefore, the task carried out by the Franciscan, and given the lack of documents relating to the monk in the main historical archives in Mexico, the research work conducted by the author, in the context of the doctorate in History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture of the “Sapienza” Università di Roma, focused on a chronological-typological study of Franciscan architecture in the province of the Santo Evangelio – the first region founded by the O.F.M. in Mexican territory -, where the works attributed to Juan de Alameda are located. The period analyzed is between 1528, the year of arrival of the Franciscan in Mexico, and 1570, the year of the friar’s death, briefly underlining the architectural typologies built by the first Franciscans arrived in Mexico in 1523. The part concerning the chronological analysis took into consideration the main historical events and the most famous people of the time who gave shape to the religious architecture of the period, while for the typological study the formal developments of the buildings of the time and their destination of use were analyzed.
This article is an excerpt from the author’s doctoral thesis “La arquitectura franciscana en México (1523-1570). Investigación sobre las obras atribuidas a Juan de Alameda. El caso del convento de San Martín Caballero en Huaquechula, Puebla”, developed at the Department of History, Representation and Restoration of Architecture of the “Sapienza” Università di Roma, supervised by Prof. Aloisio Antinori and Prof. Carlo Inglese. I would like to thank the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia, which is responsible for the preservation of historical monuments in Mexico, for allowing to carry out in-depth studies in the Franciscan complex of Huaquechula.